Rock Hall brings New Orleans to Cleveland for one week for 2010 American Music Masters® series

Sponsored by Infiniti

Weeklong schedule is announced for Walking to New Orleans: The Music of Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew

CLEVELAND (October 19, 2010) - The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) will honor Antoine “Fats” Domino and Dave Bartholomew, one of the most important partnerships in the history of rock and roll music, during the 15th annual American Music Masters® series in November. Over the course of a week, more than 40 members of the New Orleans music scene will travel to Cleveland including Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees, artists, band members, authors, journalists and more for the special events that will honor two pioneers in a seminal rock and roll city. Many events are FREE to the public.

The annual series of events will begin Monday, November 8, 2010, culminating with a conference and a tribute concert on Saturday, November 13, 2010. Renowned New Orleans actor Wendell Pierce (HBO’s The Wire and Treme) will serve as the evening’s emcee. Artists just added to the concert include reggae pioneers Toots and the Maytals and several artists from New Orleans, including vocal group the Dixie Cups (“Iko Iko,” “Chapel of Love”) and multi-instrumentalist Theresa Andersson. Dr. John and the Lower 911 will be the house band for the evening. Previously announced artists include American Music Masters honoree and Inductee Dave Bartholomew, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Lloyd Price, Irma Thomas, The Rebirth Brass Band and Robert Parker. The tribute concert will be held Saturday, November 13, at 7:30 p.m. at PlayhouseSquare’s Palace Theatre in Cleveland. Tickets are $30, $40 and $50. This event is sponsored by Infiniti. Tickets are available at the PlayhouseSquare box office, by calling (216) 241-6000, or by visiting www.rockhall.com. A limited number of Rock Hall VIP event packages starting at $250 are available by calling (216) 515-1207.

Additional ticketed events include:

Friday, November 12 at 8 p.m. - Concert by Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and the Rebirth Brass Band at House of Blues, Cleveland, 308 Euclid Avenue, presented in conjunction with The Beachland Ballroom. New Orleans’ own Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and the Rebirth Brass Band will co-headline a show at Cleveland’s House of Blues on Friday, November 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 and are available at www.LiveNation.com, www.HouseofBlues.com, the House of Blues Box Office, charge-by-phone (800-745-3000), or any Ticketmaster location.

Saturday, November 13 from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. – American Music Masters Conference at Case Western Reserve’s Wolstein Auditorium, 2103 Cornell Road, in the Wolstein Research Building. A reflection on the career of Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew and their impact on rock and roll music. Participants will include Hall of Fame Inductees Dave Bartholomew and Lloyd Price; long-time collaborators of Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew including musicians Billy Diamond, Herb Hardesty, Ernest McLean, and songwriter/producer Eddie Ray; and key historians of New Orleans music Domino biographer Rick Coleman, John Broven, Jason Berry, Jeff Hannusch Hannusch and Dr. Ike of Ponderosa Stomp. Every surviving band member of Fats’ will attend. Writer and director Daniel Wolff will discuss his on-going film projects about residents trying to return to New Orleans, Right to Return: New Home Movies From the Ninth Ward and Been in the Storm Too Long, directed by Oscar-winner Jonathan Demme. Tickets are $30 (Continental breakfast and lunch included) and are available through Ticketmaster and the Rock Hall box office. Additional events for the 15th Annual American Music Masters® series Walking to New Orleans: The Music of Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew include (all are FREE with reservation. Seating is limited):

FREE with RSVP - Wednesday, October 20 at 7 p.m. – Songwriters to Soundmen featuring New Orleans Songwriter and Producer Harold Battiste in the Rock Hall’s Foster Theater on the 4th floor. Composer, producer, educator and jazz ambassador Harold Battiste has had an active and significant role in studio, stage, motion picture and television history. A native of New Orleans, Battiste has produced 10 gold records, including Barbara George’s “I Know (You Don’t Love Me No More),” Joe Jones’ “You Talk Too Much,” and Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me,” and is also credited with launching the pop careers of Sonny & Cher, Sam Cooke and Dr. John. Battiste is also responsible for founding All for One (AFO), the nation’s first African American musician-owned and -operated record label. This event is free with a reservation. Email education@rockhall.org or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.

FREE with RSVP - Wednesday, October 27 at 7 p.m. – Rock and Roll Night School: “Rock the city with their Congo dances,” a special presentation by Ned Sublette in the Rock Hall’s Foster Theater on the 4th floor. The first known use of the verb rock to refer to African American music and dance referred to the jams at Congo Square in New Orleans in 1819 -- about a block from where Roy Brown recorded “Good Rockin’ Tonight” in 1947. Ned Sublette, author of The Year Before The Flood, The World that Made New Orleans, and Cuba and Its Music, will talk about the impact of music from Afro-New Orleans and Afro-Cuba on twentieth-century music in the United States, including a special shout out to the late New Orleans drummer Earl Palmer, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee and founding drummer of rock and roll. This event is free with a reservation. Email education@rockhall.org or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.

FREE with RSVP - Monday, November 8 at 7 p.m. - Rock and Roll Night School: A Spotlight on Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew in the Rock Hall’s Foster Theater on the 4th floor. Rock Hall educators Dr. Lauren Onkey and Jason Hanley will examine the careers of Inductees Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew and their contribution to the birth of rock and roll. This evening takes us from the early days when Dave Bartholomew heard Fats Domino playing in Billy Diamond’s band at the Hideaway Club in New Orleans, to the string of influential recordings they wrote and recorded at Cosimo Matassa’s J&M Studio on the corner of Rampart and Dumaine starting in 1949 (including “The Fat Man,” “Ain’t That A Shame,” “Blue Monday,” and “I’m Walkin”). We will also explore how their music drew both black and white fans and pushed at the boundaries of racial segregation. This event is free with a reservation. Email education@rockhall.org or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.

FREE with RSVP - Tuesday, November 9 at 7 p.m. – Film Screening: Fats Domino Live From Austin, Texas (1986) in the Rock Hall’s Foster Theater on the 4th floor. Recorded October 22, 1986, Fats Domino Live From Austin, Texas features previous unreleased performances from the award-winning Austin City Limits television show, featuring Dave Bartholomew on trumpet. Taken from the full concerts that were edited into the half hour TV show, these performances have been re-mixed and re-mastered. This event is free with a reservation. Email education@rockhall.org or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.

FREE with RSVP - Wednesday, November 10 at 4:30 p.m. – Roots of Music: After-School Music Education in Post-Katrina New Orleans in the Rock Hall’s Foster Theater on the 4th floor. Join us for a special workshop celebrating the legacy of Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew, with special guests from New Orleans’ acclaimed Roots of Music program (co-founded by Rebirth Brass Band drummer Derrick Tabb). Learn more about ROM’s amazing work in helping students across New Orleans succeed – musically, scholastically, and personally. This workshop is designed for teachers and educators around Northeast Ohio. This event is free with a reservation. Email education@rockhall.org or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.

FREE with RSVP - Wednesday, November 10 at 7 p.m. – Songwriters to Soundmen with New Orleans Saxophonist Herb Hardesty in the Rock Hall’s Foster Theater on the 4th floor. Herb Hardesty is most known for his association with Fats Domino, beginning in 1949, where he has been the featured sax soloist for most of Domino’s recordings. His easy, upbeat, distinctive style has been a trademark of Fats’ music and can be heard on rock and roll classics like “I’m Walkin’,” “Ain’t That a Shame,” “Blue Monday,” and many others. During his prolific career, Hardesty has worked with Hall of Fame Inductees Lloyd Price, BB King, and Little Richard as well as Tom Waits, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dr. John, and Frank Sinatra. This event is free with a reservation. Email education@rockhall.org or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.

FREE with RSVP - Thursday, November 11 at 7 p.m. – Fats and Dave on Film: Their Music and Their Influences in the Rock Hall’s Foster Theater on the 4th floor. Hosted by documentary filmmaker and archivist Joe Lauro, this 75 minute program of rare film footage tracing the golden years of the Fats Domino Band augmented with clips of musicians, bands and events that influenced both Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew. Portions of the program will be seen in an upcoming documentary on Fats Domino & Dave Bartholomew slated for release in 2011. This event is free with a reservation. Email education@rockhall.org or call 216.515.8426 to RSVP.

Numerous events will be streamed live on rockhall.com. Please visit www.rockhall.com for up-to-date information about streamed events, the tribute concert, the weeklong series of events, and for more information about Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame education department will offer a special class entitled “The Big Beat: Fats Domino, Dave Bartholomew, and New Orleans Rock and Roll” to 7th grade students at the Intercultural Charter School of New Orleans East on Tuesday, October 26th at 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. This class, presented in partnership with New Orleans’ arts integration organization KID smart, will be the Rock Hall’s first connection to students in New Orleans.

The Rock Hall will also connect to Northeast Ohio students as part of its interdisciplinary educational program, Rockin’ the Schools. Students will survey the music that made Domino and Bartholomew rock and roll pioneers (and superstars) and will trace these sounds back through the rich and complicated musical history of New Orleans.

The Rock Hall will once again partner with the Cuyahoga County Public Library to deliver special American Music Masters-related content. On Thursday, October 28 at 7 p.m., rock hall educator Stephanie Heriger will teach a special interactive videoconference class on Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew, and the history of New Orleans rock and roll. This class will be held at the library’s Brooklyn branch located at 4480 Ridge Road, Brooklyn, Ohio. Contact the Cuyahoga County Public Library at 216-398-4600 for more information. About the American Music Masters® SeriesEach year, the American Music Masters® series explores the legacy of a pioneering rock and roll figure in a range of events that includes Museum exhibits, lectures, films, a major conference at Case Western Reserve University and a tribute concert benefiting the Rock Hall’s education programs. Drawing together experts, artists, fans and friends, these events provide new perspectives on the most beloved and influential musicians of the past century.

The tribute concert brings together a diverse mix of artists and musical styles, and as a result, many magical moments have taken place over the years. In 2004, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss performed onstage together for the first time to honor Lead Belly. This year the pair was awarded the highest honors of Album of the Year for Raising Sand and Record of the Year for "Please Read the Letter" at the 51st annual Grammy awards. Honoree Jerry Lee Lewis, who was not scheduled to perform at the 2007 concert, was moved to take the stage at the end of the show. Lewis tenderly played the piano and sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” At the first American Music Masters tribute concert, Bruce Springsteen set the bar high and performed in honor of Woody Guthrie. The most star-studded and unique performance by a trio was Aretha Franklin, Solomon Burke and Elvis Costello paying tribute to Sam Cooke in 2005. Two years ago, a 93-year-old Les Paul took the stage with his trio and then led an epic jam with some of rock and roll’s greatest guitarists, from Jennifer Batten to Slash. In 2009, Lucinda Williams penned an original song to honor Janis Joplin.About the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. is the nonprofit organization that exists to educate visitors, fans and scholars from around the world about the history and continuing significance of rock and roll music. It carries out this mission through its operation of a world-class museum that collects, preserves, exhibits and interprets this art form and through its library and archives as well as its educational programs.

The Museum is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. On Wednesdays (and Saturdays through Labor Day), the Museum is open until 9 p.m. Museum admission is $22 for adults, $18 for adult residents of Greater Cleveland, $17 for seniors (65+), $13 for youth (9-12), children under 8 and Museum Members are always free, for information or to join the membership program call 216. 515.8425. For general inquiries, please call 216.781.ROCK (7625) or visit www.rockhall.com. The Museum is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts and Culture.About Case Western Reserve UniversityCase Western Reserve University is among the nation’s leading research institutions. Founded in 1826 and shaped by the unique merger of the Case Institute of Technology and Western Reserve University, Case Western Reserve is distinguished by its strengths in education, research, service, and experiential learning. Located in Cleveland, Case Western Reserve offers nationally recognized programs in the Arts and Sciences, Dental Medicine, Engineering, Law, Management, Medicine, Nursing, and Social Work. http://www.case.edu.

The Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities was established in 1996 with a generous gift of endowment from Eric and Jane Nord. Dedicated to celebrating achievements in the arts and humanities, the Center facilitates cross-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary collaborations that address questions and problems of broad human interest.

About Cuyahoga County Public LibraryCuyahoga County Public Library is ranked the Number Two library system in the nation among libraries that serve populations of 500,000 or more. It is the seventh busiest library in the nation with 28 branches that serve 47 communities. The Library’s mission is to provide our community open access to resources that inform, entertain, and enrich. For more information, visit www.cuyahogalibrary.org .